The modern practice of medicine poses a number of information-related challenges for clinicians to effectively deliver quality care to patients. Likewise, information-related challenges arise for patients and their family members, challenges to their effectively tracking and responding to new information that arises at various times during the processes of preventive interventions and care delivery. In particular, the rate of ongoing arrival of new information about each patient's health continues to grow at a rapid pace, making it difficult for clinicians to keep up with and carry out recognized best practices in a timely, responsive manner. The difficulty for patients or for family member caregivers to keep apprised of new information concerning their own health conditions or those of the family members for whose care they are responsible is exacerbated by the fact that consumers are typically pulled in many different directions by a vast number of daily concerns.
In a similar manner, clinicians have their attention fragmented by heavy patient loads and must often make quick decisions regarding a patient's treatment. The limited time available when new information materializes may be too short to permit the clinician or the consumer to consult the entirety of the individual's electronic health record or personal health record, ‘pull’ a collection of older context-providing information, and acquaint or reacquaint himself/herself with the context into which the new information fits. As a result, gaps currently exist between recognized best practices and actual clinician decisions; gaps also exist between optimal, fully-deliberated consumer intentions and actual consumer decisions. These gaps contribute to delays, decreased quality of care, increased risk of medical errors, and increased cost of health care.